Saturday, July 20, 2013

Chawamushi

Chawamushi or Japanese steamed egg in cup is one of my Husband favourite Japanese Food. My youngest daughter had also recently fell in love with this snack. She is a fussy eater and there is hardly any food that could catch her attention.

Today, I found great motivation to make this as afternoon tea break for my little family. I was slightly rusty as I had not cook anything for quite a long time... Fortunately it did not take me long to warm up.



There are many versions on the Internet  on making chawamushi, I adapted my own recipe with some modifications to keep it as simple as possible.. 

Here are the ingredients:
(Makes 5 cups)

[A]
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups chicken stock* (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon soya sauce 
- 2 tablespoon sake (Japanese rice wine)

You can mix and match any of these below to your preference:

[B]
- 5 cubes chicken breast / thigh meat
- dried shiitake mushroom slices
- enoki mushroom
- crab stick cut in twos
- naruto (Japanese fish cakes)

*You can mix half a cube of chicken stock cube in 2 cups hot water

Method:
1. Bring water in a steamer to boil, reduce heat to a simmer.

2. Whisk eggs in a big bowl, pour in chicken stock, sake and soya sauce

3. Gentle stir the mixture till there is no more bubbles

4. Arrange [B] in cups, transfer egg mixture gently into the cups with a ladle

5. Cover the cups with their lids and place it in the steamer. Cover the steamer and steam for 12 minutes exactly. (Do not open the steamer during the 12 minutes so do check the water beforehand.)



I find that the most important tip of all to get a really smooth egg is to invest in proper chawamushi cups. We need good cup with lids so that air will not get into the cup during steaming. (You can get these cups at any Daiso store) 

I think we can make egg puddings with this method too :)

Enjoy!